Guide/Petroleum Boiler

A Petroleum Boiler is a device which is used to create Petroleum directly from Crude Oil, without the use of an Oil Refinery. It utilizes the fact that Crude Oil turns into Petroleum at a temperature of about 401.85 °C.

In relation
3 Oil Wells running full time generate 10kg of Crude Oil per second, which keeps 1 Oil Refinery and therefore 1 Duplicant fully occupied, wasting 480 W of power and creating 5 kg of Petroleum per second, worth 5 kW of Power.

The theory
Crude oil, if heated up turns into Petroleum at a 1:1 ratio. 10kg of Crude Oil therefore generate 10kg of Petroleum for 10 kW power with no Duplicant errand generated.

Perfect mathematical model
Assuming an Oil well ejects Crude oil at 91.85°C, it needs to rise in temperature for 310°C, for 10kg/s that is an amount 5,239kDTU of heat per second (mass times specific heat capacity times temperature difference: 10*1.690*310). But since the generated Petroleum has a higher specific heat capacity it can flow against the new incoming oil, heating the crude oil up while cooling itself down by 297.67°C (Heat divided by mass and specific heat capacity: 5239/(10*1.76)=297.67°C) from 401.85°C to 104.18°C.

In an imperfect world
Barely transformed Petroleum can, of course, not cause other crude oil to rise in temperature above, but it can come quite close. Therefore only a little bit more heat needs to be injected into the system through in order to push the crude oil over the edge to flash into petroleum.

Advantages

 * A Petroleum Boiler converts 100% of Crude Oil mass into Petroleum, while an Oil Refinery converts only 50% (+ 0.9% in Natural Gas).
 * It produces no troublesome to deal with Natural Gas.
 * Once it's set up, no Duplicant or Player interaction is required.
 * It is Water positive in conjunction with Oil Wells if all Petroleum is burnt in Petroleum Generators: 3000 g/s Water -> ~10000 g/s Crude Oil -> ~10000 g/s Petroleum -> ~3750 g/s Polluted Water. If burnt in four Petroleum Generators, it is (approximately) Water neutral and generates 2000 g/s of extra Petroleum.

Disadvantages

 * A Petroleum Boiler is resource (especially Obsidian) and time intensive to set up.
 * A high output heat source is required. This can be a Geyser, or, if one's map generation was unlucky, a Thermo Aquatuner made from Thermium.

Construction
The components of a Petroleum Boiler are as follows:
 * A heat source: Most often a Volcano with a Magma tank attached. The tank should be made from Obsidian Insulated Tiles to prevent heat leakage and melting of the tiles. When doing this, a device to regulate Magma flow and one to remove accumulating Igneous Rock, for example, a Robo-Miner, are also needed. Alternatively, a Thermo Aquatuner can be used. It will have to be made from Thermium to prevent overheating. It also needs to be submerged in Liquid to facilitate sufficient heat transfer.
 * The boiler itself. Inside it, Crude Oil is heated to turn into Petroleum. It should be made partly from Metal Tiles or Diamond Window Tiles to let heat transfer inside. Diamond Tempshift Plate can then be used to more efficiently transfer heat to the Crude Oil.
 * A thermal coupling with a Steel Mechanized Airlock to couple both heat source and boiler and to let heat inside the boiler in a regulated manner.
 * A Plumbing system which will let Crude Oil inside the boiler and remove Petroleum from it.
 * A heat exchanger, most often a so-called counter-flow heat exchanger, which will preheat the incoming Crude Oil and concurrently cool down the outbound Petroleum. By doing so, it decreases the heat required to power the Petroleum Boiler massively.

Volcano powered Petroleum Boiler
Step by step construction: Magma Blade=
 * -|Catching Magma=
 * -|Boiler Room=
 * -|Seal Boiler=
 * -|Heat Injector=
 * -|Automation 1=
 * -|Automation 2=
 * -|Finish construction=
 * -|Final Automation=
 * -|Pressure Damage=
 * -|Fill Slowly=
 * -|Finished Boiler=
 * -|Use Debris=
 * -|Heat Damage=

Tips

 * Aluminum should definitely be used for a heat exchanger as its high Thermal Conductivity decreases its length significantly in comparison to Gold or Copper.
 * A double layer of Insulated Tiles should be used to prevent any heat leakage, especially around hot parts.
 * Everything in contact with Magma needs to be made from Steel or Obsidian to prevent (eventual) melting.

Example Petroleum Boiler
This is an example of a Volcano powered Petroleum Boiler. It is designed to be able to use even the lowest output Volcanoes as a heat source. The Petroleum Output is 10 kg/s. Note the long heat exchanger which allows sufficient heat transfer between liquids. The Radiant Liquid Pipe material is Gold. Automation settings: FILTER Gate: 20 s Thermo Sensor in Magma chamber: Below 435 °C Thermo Sensor in boiler: Above 405 °C Hydro Sensor: Above 500 kg

This design was created by Francis John on YouTube.